Fifty Glimpses of Roy Mustang
by SpaceRoses
Summary: Fifty facets of Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, brought to light. Some Parental!RoyEd, Some Royia hints, NO Slash


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing...I found the prompts on a Life Journal and went from there. Roy belongs to the creators of FMA...I'm just borrowing!

**Author's Note: **This is an anime based set of drabbles for Roy that have some nods to manga in them. That is because while I am mainly an anime fan the manga does have some very interesting points in it that I have pulled over into the manga timeline. The backstory for Roy that is glimpsed in these drabbles was created by my best friend, my older sister and myself. This includes Roy's relationship with other canon characters. Very little of this has been proved to be canon. These drabbles have some Parental!RoyEd hints and some Royia hints. There are a few vague spoilers for the end of the show and the movie...if you haven't seen that far read at your own risk. Read and Review if you want...Flames will be given to the Flame. Reviews are not just liked anymore...they are nearly revered as sacred now!

**Audience**

The room was imposing, dominated by the desk at the far end of the room and the man behind it. He cleared his throat, announcing his presence to his father.

**Stranger**

He looked up at the slightly older boy who slid his lunch tray into the place across from his. He kept his alchemy book open, waiting for the unknown boy to speak first.

**Confusion**

The nine year old stopped, frozen in place by the sounds of his parents arguing. Normally they barely spoke to each other but now they were nearly yelling. His mouth dropped as he recognized some of the words. Unfaithful...honor...unwanted marriage...His frown grew. What did it all mean. Where Mom and Dad...not happy together?

**Hide**

He had grown up keeping secrets. For as close as he was to his best friend there were things that even he didn't know. His friend didn't know about his half-wit sister who his parents would never own up too. His friend didn't know that his father slept with everything female that he could smooth talk into having a drink with him. His friend didn't know about the half-brother he wasn't supposed to know about who was growing up in Central. There were somethings that weren't meant to become public knowledge.

**Study**

As soon as he had graduated from school he had come here to study. He had to learn more about alchemy...he had to learn how to do it for real. It seemed that finding a teacher was the only way to do that.

**Gloves**

The smell of gunpowder scratched at his nose and made him want to sneeze but he stifled it. Instead he picked up the gloves and eyed them. The array was slightly imperfect and the material was heavy but if they worked he would never have to carry chalk again.

**Numb**

He couldn't wrap his mind around the watch that was sitting in his pocket. It was his now but he still couldn't believe it. Excitement would set in later...right now he was still in shock.

**Gone**

Just like that he was gone...his teacher, his friend...a figure closer to a father then his own. The dead man's weight pulling down on his shoulder he looked up and saw his expression mirrored in the eyes of his teacher's daughter. "Father?" She whispered, still clinging to the door. At that moment his grip faltered just a bit, they had both lost someone. They were all the other one had left now.

**Irresistible**

It had been a simple bet...he never thought that it would turn out like this! Still he couldn't help but stare at his best friend as the alchemist smoothly talked to the women hanging on his arms. How did he do it? They'd been in the bar for fifteen minutes...and he already had five dates lined up!

**Rules**

There were plenty of rules in the Academy but the most important ones where never taught by teachers. The most important one he had ever learned was from a blonde he had met at a bar. And it was this: Never mention your date's weight.

**Ashes**

That was all that was left of Ishbal...some light grey dust that blew away on a stiff breeze. He faced the ruins, his body weak and his throat raw after entire morning spent ridding his stomach of its contents. What other way was there to respond to what was happening here? Every time he had snapped his fingers the night before, destroying another part of Ishbal, he felt a part of his soul dissolve with it.

**Final**

"You are a disgrace to me and to this family." his father frowned and released the front of his son's uniform. He ignored the pleading in his wife's gaze, "From this day forward I have never had a son. Get out." He hissed as he turned and left. With a expression of contempt the son spat slightly on the floor. He would grieve for what he had lost later. From here on out he was a man without a family.

**Nightmare**

Sleep had become a rare commodity for him these days. After the first few hours that his body needed his dreams turned sour. All he could see was the explosions and fires that had been the war. After three weeks he gave up sleeping in his own bed, after six weeks he started to sleep in his clothes, and after nine weeks he started to realize that paperwork was a wonderful way to pas the night. Anything to keep the dreams at bay.

**Afterlife**

He had never accepted the idea of Heaven...and after Ishbal he had ignored the idea all the way around. Even if one existed he was never going to get in it, not after what he had done. But sometimes...he still hoped that one existed if only so that there was a place that he could be thrown out of. Anything had to be better then just vanishing into a void.

**Tomorrow**

When he was at his lowest point, when he had nothing left to strive for he would remember it. After he had watched his dreams go up in smoke he remembered it. He remembered that this wasn't the end of the world, just the end of a day. And when tomorrow came it would be better.

**Conditional**

He could marry the man's granddaughter but one rule applied. He needed to become Fuhrer first. The young alchemist nodded and saluted to the general.

**Wishing**

Maybe he was just being selfish. He wanted to reach the top and not lose any of his men at the same time.

**Embarrassed**

He never wanted anyone to find out he was related to General Mustang. The man was a womanizer and the laughing stock of Command. That was why he walked the other way every time he saw the man coming his way.

**Weapon**

He looked so normal from the outside. Yes he was rather good looking, yes he had a certain arrogant smirk that crossed his features and yes it was rumored that he was far more ambitious then one of his rank should be but for all of that he was normal. Until he pulled out the watch that he kept hidden in his pocket and all normality melted away. He wasn't normal...he was a ticking time-bomb, a Dog of the Military. He was a State Alchemist.

**Blood**

No one would ever know it...but his Sergeant and he had the same blood running through their veins. His Sergeant, his sweet, innocent, puppy rescuing Sergeant was actually the younger brother that he had never grown up with. Half-brother to be technical, the product of a womanizing general who couldn't keep his hands to himself. His father had never done anything to raise the boy but that was all right. He was here now and no one would hurt his younger brother.

**Family**

He studied his office staff with an amused smirk. The blonde sharpshooter who he had sworn he would marry one day. The chain smoking Lieutenant who spent most of his time trying to get a girl to stick with him. The Lieutenant with a drive for logic games and had no shame in beating his commanding officer. The Warrant Officer who kept pointing out the flaws in their plans. The Sergeant who turned his office into a animal shelter. The short alchemist who only stayed long enough to thow reports on his desk. The amused smirk grew. Who needed a family with friends like these?

**Melody**

The tune was scratchy and warbled but it rang through the apartment, covering up the sound of traffic from the street and making the stale summer air wafting in from the window seem sweeter. Hands long out of practice guided the violin bow over the strings of the instrument as the owner of the hands stared out of the window, his gaze distant as if the music was taking him somewhere.

**Rich**

Although he never truely looked it he was quite well off. A State Alchemist salary and some money that he had received from his family meant that he was comfortably set for life. However he never used it except for the occasional date he felt like splurging on and expensive alcohol. The rest of it he saved...maybe someday he would have a use for it.

**Tease**

"Oh there you are...I didn't see you over my coffee cup." As the boy seated across from him began to fume he smoothly continued. "You do realize that coffee stunts growth don't you?" He asked with a gesture at the cup in the boy's metal hand.

**Lies**

Everyone talked about the womanizing Colonel who often was too free with other officers girlfriends. His own Lieutenant (dubbed the "Dateless Wonder" by some of the ruder junior officers) was testimony to that. But no one realized that most of his entire social life was a lie. In reality he was back in his apartment after his dates by ten-thirty but in the break room he normally stayed for breakfast.

**Heartache**

He looked so young when he was asleep. He reached down to rest a hand on the child's hot forehead. Why did he have to look this young when he was injured? The man sitting by the hospital bed resisted the urge to brush the blonde's hair the way a parent would have. That was the irony...he wanted to be the father to a son that would never be his.

**Wired**

Who had given him that much coffee? That was the main thought in the office when he finished his paperwork in record time and was found washing the windows and whistling.

**Nostalgia**

The book that he held in his hands prompted a smile to come to his face. How long had it been since he had worked with this one? He opened the book "Beginning Alchemy" and traced the first array with his finger.

**Diary**

It was a research journal, full of alchemic secrets. But judging from the smirk on FullMetal's face he guessed that this was the price he paid for using female names for his code.

**Foolish**

"How can you be so stupid sir?" She asked, reloading her gun with the ease of long practice. "We need you alive."

**Protection**

She had always protected him...just once he wanted to be the one to protect her.

**Preparation**

He pulled at the collar of the uniform and then dropped his hand. These dress uniforms looked impressive but they sure didn't feel that way. With a muttered oath he grabbed his hat and smoothed his hair back away from his face.

**Clear skies**

By all rights it should have been raining. Why was it that funerals always seemed to happen on sunny days?

**Boxes**

The apartment was filled with boxes that he constantly tripped over, a tribute to the transfer he was answering. He didn't own much but it sure looked like a lot more when it was all wrapped up and piled up. How did he get this much stuff?

**Chocolate**

It was distinctly his mother's treat. She had always kept some with her, she claimed that it reminded her of home. It was understood among the entire family, even among the girls, that the chocolate was off-limits. Even now...years later he still considered chocolate as nearly scared and something that shouldn't be taken lightly.

**Unforeseen**

He had never seen himself becoming a father and yet he was a father to several children that weren't his. First had been the little blonde daughter of the doctors that he had killed. He had never had a hand in her raising but there had been times when they had desperately needed money and it had appeared suddenly. Then there was the two brothers, orphans who had been shoved under his care. He claimed that he did it as a favor to their father but the more time he spent with them the more he began to resent the man himself as he saw the pain he left them with clearly shining out of the boys eyes. Finally there was his best friend's child...the child he should never have had to care for. But it was the least he could do for his friend. Now, as he considered his children, he began to ponder. "Is it about time I got married?"

**Underneath**

The alarm went off and he rolled over, slamming his hand down on it. With a muffled growl he rolled back over onto his side and pulled his blanket back over his head. Anther ten minutes never hurt.

**Superstition**

They were as bad as a bunch of school kids on a camp out. His unit was planning their hunt that they expected him to lead. Honestly...how could grown soldiers get that worried about a bunch of ghosts?

**Puppy Love**

He scratched the small dog behind his ears and fished the treats he had brought out of his pocket. He placed them on the floor and smiled as his Lieutenant's dog gobbled them down. The way to a woman's heart was always through her dog's stomach.

**Words**

He never said what he really thought of people. To the ones that he disliked he was normally nothing but compliments and to the men that he did like it often came out in the form of barbs and taunts. The truth was...he cared so much about his friends that he couldn't begin to say it. Instead he chose to say nothing.

**Bitter**

He glared down at the grave. How many years had he given to this man in an effort to earn some measure of love from him? Even a glance that held pride in it would have been enough for him. And now his father was dead and he had never once heard those coveted words from the man's lips.

**Puzzle**

He stared at the pieces spread out around his dining room table and frowned. "This one should go here..." he muttered, "But it's not connecting..." That was the good thing about having his own apartment...no one would interrupt his work...especially not when he only had four hundred and ninety eight pieces left!

**Insanity**

This was foolish...they were being too obvious. They were at a party and there was dancing but that didn't mean that they had to take part. However here they were, never touching as was the rules of the dance, but still so close in mind. The music was foreign and fast paced and it helped them forget the rules that they were bound by. All there was was the rhythm of the music, her heavy breathing and the sweat he could feel running down his neck. Someone was bound to notice the restrained passion between them...but maybe they would blame it on the dance.

**Destiny**

"Goodbye FullMetal." "Goodbye General." As the two men parted ways they both knew that the chances of seeing the other alive again were slim. But that was the risk they had always run. Those that lived by sword died by it.

**Agony**

He only remembered that night vaguely, the mind numbing wounds that covered his whole body and the sound of the Fuhrer's mansion burning behind him. He wasn't sure which was worse though...his injuries or the sounds of the woman sobbing over him when he couldn't do anything to comfort her.

**Prayers**

Maybe it was desperation that had brought him into this small chapel. Or maybe just because he was curious. His Lieutenant was religious and he had claimed that his faith in forgiveness was the only thing that had pulled him through Ishbal and the aftermath. Either way he took a seat in the back and sat unsure for a moment in the empty space. Finally he just started to talk to the air. He started to explain his unbelief and his reasons for it. That lead to talking about his relationships with people, his parents, his friends. From there it grew into talking about Ishbal, what he had done there and how much he wanted to take it back. Before he knew it his entire life had been laid out and tears were coursing out of his one good eye. But there was something else...a feeling he had nearly forgotten. He was at peace...he was forgiven. It was the first of many such visits for him.

**Return**

He should have come back months ago...but he'd been too preoccupied with his own guilt to see theirs. He had hid up North, convinced that his failures had shamed them and that he had let them down. But he could never let them down, that much was clear in their expressions when an explosion heralded his return home.

**Heartbeat**

The sound of it was comforting, a thudding sound that he could lay awake and listen to for hours. His wife rolled over and grinned at him sleepily, "You're staring." She reprimanded. "Not staring...listening." He kissed her cheek lightly.

**Hush**

A soft whispering sound could be heard playing along with the wailings from the infant in the man's arms. He moved around the crib, humming to himself and his daughter. He never minded putting the baby back to sleep.

**Stars**

He was like an earthquake. When he came through nothing was left unchanged. Everyone who met him, be it friend or foe, was left with at least a grudging respect of the man. He commanded attention and drew people to him like a light drew moths. He was a question and an answer, a hero and a failure, a man and a monster all rolled into one. He was a walking contradiction and he enjoyed it. However one thing was clear...if anyone was going to shake up the country and turn it around it would be him. It was what he was born for...he was born to rattle the stars themselves.


End file.
